HostClear Web Hosting Review

Are you one of those who hosts a number of small websites at affordable prices and constantly looks out for tools to build the sites?

If so, then you may probably want a detailed look at the hosting services offered by HostClear.

What stands out about HostClear is the amazing site creation tools made available to you. Of course, this hosting provider offers several other features as well and that too at extremely affordable prices.

In order to better understand if HostClear is an ideal hosting provider for you, let’s review the various features on offer and the pros and cons of HostClear.

HostClear Company Background

This web host gives services, such as website hosting, site design using great site builder tools, and domain name registration, along with corresponding products and cloud-based solutions for individuals, businesses, non-profit organisations and more.

This host is a relatively new launch from the Endurance web hosting brand as part of the Endurance International Group (EIG).

The aim has always been to cater to various hosting requirements of small and mid-sized websites along with the technological needs while building websites using various tools. HostClear has been gaining in popularity in recent times due to the cost effectiveness of its hosting plans.

Features of HostClear

Let’s take a closer look at the various features offered by the HostClear web hosting service provider.

Performance – Speed and Uptime

Would you love to have a website that is always accessible to your visitors without any issues?

With HostClear, it is possible to make sure that your website is available for the majority of the time. This is because it offers a solid uptime guarantee of 99.9%, which is quite good for your website.

There may be some planned maintenance downtime about which the host informs you beforehand so that you can, in turn, keep your visitors informed.

Apart from that, this relatively new entrant to the world of fiercely competitive hosting service providers ensures minimal downtime for your hosted website.

They are so confident about their uptime guarantee that you are entitled to receive one month’s credit to your hosting account if the uptime percentage falls short of 99.9% at any point in time. To claim this benefit, all you have to do is visit the HostClear Help Forum and raise a support ticket along with the appropriate justification.

Even though HostClear is quite new to the hosting scene, it is an expert as far as balancing the load on the servers is concerned. Since it hosts multiple sites that share servers, it balances the load across servers to ensure no server is overstuffed with websites. This empowers your sites with great performance at all times.

Security

With all the HostClear web hosting plans, you get an enhanced security suite (of $100 value) which ensures appropriate security of your hosting account and website.

Also, the HostClear team manages to monitor the network around the clock which increases the reliability of the server and hosting services offered. If you check out the various reviews of HostClear customers so far, hardly anyone has complained about security issues.

Additionally, as this host is evolving, you can expect its security features to evolve continuously as well.

Customer Support

HostClear offers reliable support through their extremely friendly staff who are well-versed with the nuances of web hosting and related problems. You can call them at 1-(281)-733-2627 for around the clock telephone support or get connected to a support assistant using their 24×7 live chat option.

If your issue is not urgent, you can even send an email to the HostClear support team at support@hostclear.com. If the reviews of existing HostClear users are anything to go by, their support is quite good and fairly competitive even with the big players.

You can even get access to plenty of help documentation in the form of an effective knowledge base, articles as well as video tutorials. It helps you to sort out any common issues on your own.

Control Panel

How convenient is it to navigate through a hosting account dashboard that you are used to?

HostClear takes special care that experienced webmasters get access to the industry standard control panel (“cPanel”). This cPanel has a very user-friendly interface which enables you to get quick access to the various dashboard features of your hosting account.

You get the flexibility to host unlimited domains from a single HostClear hosting account and you get a typical email package to handle unlimited email accounts that can easily be accessed via different means, like web mail, POP3 or IMAP. Some built-in email-related features include email forwarding, auto-responders and customisable spam filters.

This cPanel allows you to participate in the current eCommerce revolution that is taking the world by storm. You get a simple eCommerce package to build an online store for your business and start selling your goods or services online.

You get all the basic stuff required, such as an online shopping cart along with PayPal integration, for smooth online transactions.

However, if you have a business that is completely reliant on eCommerce, then you may need several advanced eCommerce features with regard to secure payments and overall security of an eCommerce website. Unfortunately, HostClear is currently not capable of handling such eCommerce needs.

One of the things that HostClear has become extremely popular for, is its state of the art website builder. It is a great drag-and-drop builder powered with several site building features that help it to compete with some of the specialist site builder platforms, such as Squarespace or Weebly.

It can be easily used by even a novice to build a website from scratch. So, you can now be free of any worries related to your limited technical skills for site building.

The cPanel of HostClear offers access to a diverse range of professionally pre-designed website templates that empowers you to design a good looking website at an extremely affordable price. You also get an integrated blog setup wizard to design blogs and other features like image galleries or video support.

You can work on your website for further improvements by getting valuable insights about your site traffic and monitoring your site’s presence in search engines from the cPanel.

Various Plans and Pricing

HostClear offers a “one-size fits all” shared hosting plan (labelled Pro Plan) instead of offering multi-tiered hosting plans. It is currently running a special introductory offer on this plan by giving a discount of 50% on the actual price.

Thus, you can now avail this hosting plan for only $2.99 per month (three-year subscription) or $3.99 per month (two-year subscription) or $4.99 per month (annual subscription) or $6.99 per month (monthly subscription). At the end of your initial selected term of hosting for your site, you may have to renew your hosting plan at the original rate (and not the discounted one).

This Pro Plan offers you an unlimited domain name for the entire tenure that you have a hosting account with HostClear. This is a great offer from the hosting provider, as several other web hosts tend to charge you for your “free domain name” after your initial term is over.

Satisfaction Guarantee

One of the prime reasons HostClear is popular among several new webmasters and owners of small websites is the fact that this web host gives significant importance to customer satisfaction, without taking anything for granted.

Considering that different customers may have varied needs and not all of them may find HostClear hosting plans suitable for their website, it offers an attractive 45-day money back guarantee for their shared hosting services.

If you are not satisfied with their hosting services or realise the need for several advanced features, you can get a refund from HostClear by writing a “refund request” to the HostClear support team within the money back period of 45 days.

If your claim is found valid by HostClear, you can get a refund of the entire basic shared hosting fees paid by you earlier.

Other Features

You also get unlimited MySQL databases, which is pretty much expected from web hosts these days. Some other standard features include unmetered bandwidth and storage space. This means that even though there are no set limits for them, HostClear cleverly manages the resources between all websites hosted along with your site on the same server.

It claims that your website or blog will always have more than enough storage space and bandwidth for smooth functioning. For some rare scenarios, where the website is found to use resources beyond the limit or beyond the expected requirements for a personal or small business website, some restrictions may be imposed on such accounts.

This is in line with their Terms of Use, where they have clearly mentioned that “shared hosting space may not be utilised for storage (whether of media, emails, or other data), including, as off-site storage of electronic files, emails or FTP hosts”.

Pros of HostClear

Offers free domain for life and not just for the initial term.

Offers a single shared hosting plan that is pocket-friendly for most webmasters.

The simple drag-and-drop site builder, packed with all the rich features, is a highlight of the HostClear shared hosting plan, as it makes the task of creating websites extremely user-friendly without the need for programming knowledge.

Helps you market your website by offering several freebies, such as $100 Google AdWords credit, $100 for Yahoo or Bing sponsored searches, a YellowPages.com listing and a US toll-free phone number.

Cons of HostClear

Suitable for individuals, small businesses, etc. and may be unsuitable for large websites who get a huge number of visitors on a daily basis.

Offers only one shared hosting plan with no options for an upgrade to VPS hosting or dedicated server hosting. So, if your website expands quickly, you may have to start searching for a new hosting provider much sooner than the end of your term for your current HostClear hosting plan.

The Final Verdict

After going through all the features of HostClear in detail, there is no doubt that it is one of the cheapest shared hosting options for your website.

However, if you are already using a hosting service provider and looking for an upgrade to a host offering advanced features and additional resources, then HostClear is definitely not the right choice for you.

It is suitable if you want to design a simple website from scratch or if you do not expect your website to receive an enormous amount of traffic (which a shared hosting plan cannot handle).

So which hosting services are you using? Do you plan to go for HostClear? Which feature do you find most valuable? Let us know in the comments below and thanks for reading!